1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an entering/leaving management system which uses an IC card and is applicable to attendance/absence management systems in universities, company offices, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an entering/leaving management system using an IC card is put in practical use with the increasing demand for security of confidential information in companies.
In the currently used entering/leaving management system, an IC card and an IC card reader are utilized. In the IC card, the user identifier (ID) information that identifies the user who owns the IC card is recorded. The IC card reader is built into an electric lock controlling mechanism, and the electric lock controlling mechanism is installed near a door of a room which is locked with an electric lock.
The above-mentioned entering/leaving management system reads the user ID information from the IC card using the IC card reader. The entering/leaving management system is constructed so that the allowability of unlocking of the electric lock is determined by making reference to the entering/leaving authority information for every user identifier (ID) information stored in the IC card reader (or in a host device connected with the IC card reader via a network).
The user ID information read from the IC card is stored into or managed as a database together with the information on the time the user ID information is read, and the information on the operated IC card reader, etc. By using the entering/leaving management system mentioned above, it is possible to manage the information of the IC card holder as to when the IC card holder enters the room concerned and what room the IC card holder enters or leaves.
A certain company has attempted for an improvement to change the conventional attending/leaving management system in which the user ID information is read from a magnetic card using a time recorder into the conventional entering/leaving management system in which an IC card is used as described above.
This attending/leaving management system can be considered as a kind of the entering/leaving management system.
However, the above-mentioned attending/leaving management system differs from the above-mentioned entering/leaving management system in that the above-mentioned attending/leaving management system does not manage the information of authority of entering/leaving the room for every individual user.
The above-mentioned attending/leaving management system manages only the information on when the IC card holder has operated the time recorder (that is, as to when the user attends the office and leaves the office). Strictly speaking, this system differs from the above-mentioned entering/leaving management system.
In order to introduce the conventional entering/leaving management system, it is necessary to carry out the installation work for installing the electric lock and the IC card reader with the electric lock control function being incorporated for every door of the room concerned. In some cases, the installation work for network facilities which connect the entering/leaving management system with the host device via the network is also needed.
Accordingly, there is a problem that introducing the conventional entering/leaving management system requires a large amount of installation cost and investment for the existing building, and introducing the entering/leaving management system cannot be performed easily with low cost.
A conceivable method of simplifying the entering/leaving management system may be to install a time recorder for use with the attending/leaving management system. However, it is also necessary for this method to install a time recorder for each of the rooms concerned. Introduction of the entering/leaving management system of this method cannot be easily performed with low cost.